Royal experts throw doubt on Meghan’s explosive claims

Meghan’s family and royal experts alike have started to poke holes in some of the explosive allegations made by the Duchess yesterday.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry didn’t hold back during their interview with Oprah, with the couple making multiple serious claims about the royal family.

As was to be expected, royal experts have analysed each of the claims looking for inaccuracies in the couple’s allegations.

As a result, many of Meghan’s claims have been brought into question, with her half-sister even coming out swinging against the Duchess over some of her comments.

We have complied a list of main claims from the interview that have been contested.

MEGHAN NEVER RESEARCHED THE ROYALS

One of the first things Meghan Markle told Oprah was that she was “naive” about what joining the royal family would mean.

She said while she was aware of the royals, she didn’t grow up knowing much about the family and royal protocols.

‘It wasn’t part of something that was part of conversation at home. It wasn’t something that we followed,” she said.

“I didn’t do any research. I’d never looked up my husband online – everything I needed to know, he was telling me.”

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A young Meghan Markle is pictured outside Buckingham Palace.

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However, Meghan’s half-sister Samantha Markle claims her sister knew more about the royal family than she let on, pointing out she visited Buckingham Palace as a teenager.

Speaking to Fifi, Fev & Nick on Melbourne radio station The Fox, Samantha went as far as to claim her sister had been “strategising” to get close to Harry and even studied Princess Diana’s mannerisms.

“Meghan went to great lengths to study Diana, to mimic her clothing, to mimic her body language and to wear Diana’s perfume on their first date,” Samantha said.

“Don’t tell me my sister didn’t know who Harry was.”

Just to be clear, Meghan never claimed not to know who Harry was, only that she didn’t know a great deal about the royal family before meeting him.

MEGHAN AND HARRY’S ‘SECRET WEDDING’

One of the main claims by Meghan that royal experts have thrown serious doubt on is that she and Harry secretly got married in a private ceremony three days before their wedding.

We called the Archbishop of Canterbury, and we just said, ‘Look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world, but we want our union between us’,” she said.

She said the Archbishop agreed and married them in their backyard, with only the three of them present.

However, under the rules of the Church of England all weddings require at least two witnesses and must take place somewhere where the public has “unrestricted access” during the ceremony so any valid objections can be made.

A couple who are lawfully married can also not legally remarry, suggesting that one of the two ceremonies was just an exchange of vows.

Reverend David Green, Vicar of St Mary’s, West Malling and the Rector of St Michael’s, Offham commented on the revelation shortly after the interview.

“You can’t get married twice. So what was the thing three days before? And if it was a marriage, what on earth are we doing ‘playing’ at prayer/holy matrimony for cameras,” he tweeted.

Reverend Green has called on the Archbishop of Canterbury to clarify Meghan’s claims.

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Meghan claimed she and Harry were actually married three days before their official wedding ceremony. Picture: Ben Stansall/AFP

ARCHIE’S PRINCE TITLE

During the interview, Meghan exposed a series of conversations that were reportedly had before Archie’s birth regarding what his title would be and whether he would have security protection.

She said she and Harry were told their son would not receive the title of prince and wouldn’t receive security as a result.

“The idea of the first member of colour in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be,” Meghan said.

“It’s not their right to take it away.”

Many UK outlets have since hit back at this comment, pointing out it isn’t Archie’s “right” to receive the prince title.

Under rules brought in by George V in 1917, only the children and grandchildren of a sovereign have the automatic right to be a prince or princess, and use the HRH title.

However, Meghan actually brought up this rule during the interview, noting that when Charles becomes king, Archie will be entitled to a prince title.

Issues around Archie not being given a royal title were discussed in the interview. Picture: Toby Melville/Getty Images

She then claimed while she was pregnant there was talk of “changing the convention”.

Under George V’s declaration, of the Queen’s great-grandchildren only Prince George is actually entitled to be a prince because he is in the direct line of succession to the throne as the eldest son of Prince William, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.

However, ahead of George’s birth, the Queen stepped in to issue letters patent, ensuring that all Kate and William’s children would have the prince and princess titles.

MEGHAN HASN’T SEEN HER SISTER FOR 19 YEARS

In clips of the interview released later by CBS, Meghan spoke briefly about her half-sister Samantha, who has launched multiple of attacks on the Duchess over the years.

Meghan was asked about what Samantha claims will be in a tell-all book about her half-sister, titled The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister, which the 56-year-old promised will expose “hidden truths” about the Markle family.

However, Meghan has cast doubt on how much truth will be in her half-sister’s book, claiming they haven’t seen each other in almost two decades.

Samantha Markle and Meghan together in 2008.

“I think it would be very hard to tell all when you don’t know me. I mean, this is a very different situation than my dad, right? When you talk about betrayal, betrayal comes from someone that you have a relationship with,” Meghan told Oprah.

“I don’t feel comfortable talking about people that I really don’t know.”

Meghan said she and Samantha never lived together when they were younger, adding she grew up as an only child and always wished she had siblings around.

Samantha has also shot down these claims, using a photo of the pair of them at her graduation in 2008 as proof.

“She had said ‘I haven’t seen Samantha in 19 years’. Well she was at my graduation from my bachelor’s degree. There was so many photos in the media that are like salience about that and that was 2008 so don’t know about you but if you do the math, 2008 to now is not 19 years,” she told Fifi, Fev & Nick on The Fox.